My 7 year-old has decided she wants to become full on veg*n. She is highly allergic to dairy and seafood/shellfish which makes the transition easier since we aren't cutting those things out. She also is allergic to many nuts and seeds (though possibly not all), and also has a mild soy allergy. I have never given her much soy though the allergist seems to think she can tolorate some. I'm wondering if there are any parents of kids with veg*n kids with allergies and how you manage their diets. I eat a lot of nuts and seeds myself and also eat a fair amount of soy.

I know that it's possible to be veg*n and have allergies, but I guess I'm just looking for words of encouragement, suggestions and advice. I work full-time and have a small infant and a teenager, and although it's been reasonably easy for me to go veg*n, I'm kind of nervous about making sure she gets proper nutrition, and at the same time not having it so complicated that I spend every free moment cooking.

Thank you.

_________________Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule. Buddha

I have little specific advice, but if you're on FB I would be happy to hook you up with a vegan friend of mine who has multiple food sensitivities (soy, gluten, brown rice, all kinds of crazy stuff) and eats well, cooks lightly, and feeds her kids what she feeds herself. PM me if you're interested.

My little advice: If she can't do soy or nuts/seeds, does she like beans and lentils? They are nutritional champs, especially in the protein, complex carbs, iron, and B-vitamins. They also contain a little calcium (not a ton). If she hasn't normally eaten those, you might want to increase her intake of them slowly to avoid tummy troubles from the fiber. You can start sneaking them in in purees a la hummus (without tahini: just chickpeas, raw garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin pureed in the food processor, drizzle in olive oil until it's smooth and creamy; you can also add other stuff for flavor like red pepper, parsley, cilantro, etc). You can make this with basically any bean and mix up the flavor profile for fun - like Tex-Mex black bean puree or Italian white bean puree. Beans can also be pureed into soups or saucy dishes to add thickness and nice mouth texture. This is really easy if you have a stick blender (highly recommended!!!!). Some ideas are cheezy (nutritional yeasty) potato soup with white beans, Indian-spiced pureed spinach and chickpeas over rice, black bean and corn soup with most of the black beans pureed for thickness. Lentil soup (with either brown/green or red lentils) is also really yummy, flexible in its flavor profile (can go middle eastern, mexican, continental, indian, etc.), and really easy to put together. I am a really lazy cook and all of this is really easy. Another fairly easy thing is a nutritional yeast-based cheese sauce with pasta (I also add peas and broccoli). Nutritional yeast has a ton of protein naturally and is fortified with B vitamins.

Ariann, we do eat a lot of beans and lentils already so I will be increasing them. We also do hummus without the tahini. I haven't thought of adding pureed beans to saucy dishes, so I will try that for sure! I've also been sneaking hemp protein powder into as many things as I possibly can. I know there is protein in other stuff, but this is something I'm especially nervous about. I will also PM you my FB info.

Shanit, I will check out peas and thank you!

_________________Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule. Buddha